Cape Comment 8-22-08

Thursday

Aug 21, 2008 at 2:00 AMAug 21, 2008 at 8:55 PM

Ed Semprini

CHOWDER BOWL: In his book Downtown, a pleasant journey that zigzags through the avenues and alleys from Battery park to Times Square, Pete Hamill describes New York harbor as “the liquid heart of the city.” Should Hamill’s wanderings (does he ever leave the streets of Manhattan?) some day lead to Hyannis and a stroll along the vibrant Main Street into Bismore Park on the waterfront, CC is convinced he would view the bustling Hyannis harbor as “the liquid heartland” of our exciting village. It is unfortunate, however, that Hamill would be unable to avoid the park’s swollen wart, known to many as the “poop palace.”…. “Red Bandana Man”: They ran with red bandanas on their shirts, the Chilmark Red Bandana Runners. And Martha’s Vineyarders cheered and applauded as they ran for the first time in the 3.1-mile Chilmark Road Race held for the 31st consecutive time earlier this month. They ran to honor Welles Crowther of Chilmark, who was known as “The Red Bandana Man” for his heroism in leading people to safety in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, according to reporter Alexander Trowbridge of the Vineyard Gazette. Trowbridge wrote that Crowther wore a red bandana to protect his face. When his body was recovered from the towers’ wreckage, the news media referred to him as “The Red Bandana Man.” Trowbridge quoted Welles’s mother, who said her son “began wearing a red bandana given him by his father at age 7 or 8. Since then he always carried the bandana and when playing sports tucked it under his helmet.”…. An earlier Sudden Thought – whatever happened to one-time Cape Cod Standard-Times sports editor Joe Sherman – received an answer from Florida. Jon Wetterlow, former Cape radio sportscaster, reports Sherman has retired from the Brockton Enterprise…. Fluke Flim-Flam: And they got caught! Mark Alan Lovewell of the Vineyard Gazette has reported how state environmental police nailed a fisherman coming into Hyannis with 500 pounds of fluke, 200 pounds more than he should have caught. According to the columnist, the fisherman stopped outside the harbor and off-loaded 200 pounds in a crate with a buoy. A small boat nearby then moved in to pick up the crate. Environmental police say both boats are owned by the same fisherman, who was hooked and brought in by alert police who patrol the harbors…. Lobster Blue: A lobster has taken over Wellfleet’s aquatic spotlight from the famous oyster – but only temporarily. John Gauthier, who owns a market in South Wellfleet, blinked when he saw the lobster brought in by a Provincetown fisherman. The six-pounded was blue with a white underside and white claws. Gauthier told The Cape Codder he “thinks” it’s a blue albino. “I’ve never seen china white claws before.” Needless to say, there was a stream of curious lobster lovers visiting the market this month. At this writing, the blue lobster is awaiting a new journey – to an aquarium…. Swim Away! No, Morris, CC may enjoy swimming, but has no plans to join the group that every August swims from Woods Hole to Martha’s Vineyard. The three-mile distance is a bit too much, and the main reason is CC is way, way, way up there. • • • You’re getting up there, Morris, if you attended Barnstable High School when Vernon Bearse was athletic director…. History buffs really know Cape Cod if they can name the town in which a historical building named The Calico Cat is located. Answer below. • • • Newsquote: “There’s not many 80-year-olds playing football out there, but there are other swimmers like me.” – Jim Edwards, 84, of Yarmouthport, who reportedly does 500- and 1,000-yard workouts seven days a week at YMCA Cape Cod.” (In The Register). • • • Columnist Comment: “Nothing elicits e-mail like a column favoring gun control.” – Joe Burns in The Register. ….”When writing about Generation X few things are as ubiquitous to my peer group as the image of a latte-drinking crowd of slackers sitting in a Starbucks late at night banging away on their laptops.” – Matthew Belson, Gen-X Files columnist, in Harwich Oracle. • • • Query answer: Chatham. • • • Quotebook: “To good old days…we weren’t so good, ‘cause we weren’t so old.” (The Freixenet Book).